Dishing out food advice: Roxanne Bamboat, tinytaster.com

You know that tingling feeling in your belly when you are taking off to your vacation destination? Roxanne Bamboat experiences it more often than others. Having made a career of food and travel blogging, this spirited lady is living her dream. She expresses her love for all things edible along with her wanderlust tales on tinytaster.com. A writer who believes that great content will always stand out, no matter what the competition is. In conversation with Radhika Sharma

Food as a career

“I have no journalism background nor any culinary or hospitality background. I was born and brought up in Mumbai and did my regular BCom with an additional diploma in advertising and marketing. I got really frustrated with my job and wanted a creative outlet and started writing about food for fun. It took me about 8 months after I launched the blog to really start writing about travel. Its not as easily accessible as food is, so that bit took a while – but eventually in 2014 is when the travel quotient really took off!

“It’s not easy at all. Anyone who tells you that is either the exception/ terribly lucky or straight up lying. Then again which job is easy ? It is always tricky while trying to pitch ideas to editors and publications but any freelance writer will agree with that. You do it because that’s really all you ever want to do. ”

“Quit whatever you are doing and just travel”- the new age mantra.

“The internet is full of articles like this and while they might try to inspire -I find them extremely misleading. Let’s be honest, travel is not cheap. It is an expensive proposition and it requires both time and money. The first thing I tell everyone is when you travel for work its not as luxurious or exciting as we make it out to be. At the end of the day it is still work and you are on a fixed schedule.My biggest advice to anyone is DO NOT QUIT YOUR DAY JOB. Earn well so you can spend and take many trips.. long weekends, holidays.. everything can be worked out. I will always advocate travel and I always urge friends and my readers to explore new places but I urge them to be smart and plan their travel well.”

“Wanderlust isn’t easy and I want people to know that. “

The one woman enterprise.

“It is a tricky business and one needs to establish themselves well. I feel content will always be king no matter what anyone says and if you have good ideas people will be interested to publish your work. Please be respectful of time and don’t flood or spam inboxes! It takes time and a lot of work but if you’re serious it will happen!

Some Culinary gyaan please!

“It comes very naturally because I am extremely opinionated about food. I know what I like and should be on a plate. I write about food not because it is fashionable or cool or because I get free meals ( believe me I turn more than half of them down ). I write because I enjoy it and I love how food brings people and communities together. I’ve had many many wonderful culinary experiences and it would be hard to pick one. I spent three weeks travelling through Portugal , some time in South Africa – Singapore is a superb hub for all kinds of food. I really like eating local food, so pizza and pasta in Italy, French Onion soup and Crepes in Paris, EVERYTHING in Thailand but for me London was fascinating because I ate ridiculously good Japanese, Iranian and my favourite Peruvian meals. ”

“Lisbon will always have a special place in my heart”

The gender bias in the industry

“Thankfully no. I think if I experienced any sort of bias I would be seething and would make it very clear that it’s not appreciated. I have however felt a strong bias towards Western bloggers Vs Asian and specifically Indian ones. I have had international brands say that they aren’t really looking at India which I find insane because we’re such a huge market but they only want to focus on the west. ”

Favorite places in the world are….

“Oh my lord, that’s like asking me to pick if I like my right hand over my left ! I love every place as cliched as it sounds because I don’t compare. I love them each for their individuality, their vibe, their culture , their people and most importantly their food. I will say that Lisbon has a special place in my heart. I just fell in love and never wanted to leave. ”

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